How I called A-Rod's walkoff homer for last night's game

I just knew that last night's Yankees-Red Sox game would come down to Alex Rodriguez, so I predicted in the ninth inning on Twitter and Facebook that A-Rod would hit a walkoff to win it. True, it took six more innings to happen, but still. I totally called it!

What a tremendous game last night. Unlike Squawker Jon's Mets, who seem to be aiming for the worst game of the season each day, the Yankees have had a whole slew of great games this year.

I was at the July 1, 2004 game, and last night had a similar "instant classic" feeling to it. Watching A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett go head to head was tremendous. But tense. Nearly fifteen scoreless innings was nerve-wracking for both sets of fans.

Did you know that A-Rod's walkoff homer was his sixth walkoff hit as a Yankee? He has twice as many walkoff hits in 5 1/2 years as a Yankee than Jeter does in his entire career. Yet some fans still act as if this is first big hit as a Yank ever. I don't get it. Heck, he would have had the game-winning hit in the final game in the Yanks' Fenway series in June if the bullpen hadn't blown it.

I don't want to forget talking about the pitching. Burnett, Phil Hughes, Mariano Rivera, Alfredo Aceves, Brian Bruney, and Phil Coke were terrific. The biggest surprise, of course was Bruney. Finally he has put it together again!

And to top it all off, Francisco Rodriguez blew a save and lost the game for the Mets, and the Yankees have the best record in baseball. Good times!

Let me continue with the predictions, since I'm still basking in the afterglow with my correct A-Rod one tonight. I predict that A-Rod will get plunked today as payback for Dustin Pedroia getting hit on Thursday. And so the Sox can get all fired up, ala 2004. Will a brawl ensue? I wouldn't be suprised.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Is Phil Hughes the Phil of the Future for the Yankees bullpen?

Phil Hughes got his first career save last night. He's been so impressive in the bullpen this year, that it looks like he's going to be the setup guy for the rest of the year, a la 1996 Mariano Rivera. But should he stay in that spot for next year as well? Good question. It's something to think about.

The Yanks are on some streak - seven in a row - thanks in no small part to Hughes and the rest of the bullpen. And they've been so dominant as of late that they're even beating pitchers they haven't seen before, like New Jersey native Vin Mazzaro. Good stuff.

I had tickets to last night's game (it was the rescheduled rained out game from April), but I decided to use them for some other time, as I was worried about rain. Good thing I did - I wouldn't have wanted to wait out a 2 hour and 43 minute rain delay! But hey, I'm a wimp!

On the other hand, some brave kids got the time of their life at the game last night. As part of the Yankees HOPE week, the Bombers gave kids who suffer from Xeroderma Pigmentosum a night they'll never forget. The disease prevents sufferers from going out in sunlight. For last night's game, the Yankees put up Camp Sundown kids in the luxury suites, then threw a carnival for them on the field after the game.

A.J. Burnett talked about this to MLB.com:

"I have two kids, and it's kind of unfathomable to imagine what's going on with these kids," A.J. Burnett said. "I'd never heard of this disease before this week, and as soon as I heard about it, I signed up for it. They're going to take this one memory and I want to be a part of it. That's kind of flattering." ....

Burnett said that, to benefit Camp Sundown and XP research, he planned to put the Yankees' WWE belt -- distributed to the team-selected player of each game -- up for auction later this season.

My heart goes out to those kids, and to all the people honored in HOPE Week. The Yankees have done a tremendous job with these events.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

A.J. Burnett shuts down Met bats - again

A.J. Burnett - Met-killer? He's now pitched 14 shutout innings against the Mets. And he had a one-hitter last night. If it weren't for Alex Cora, we might be talking about the first-ever Subway Series no-hitter. And Squawker Jon would be in even more despair than he is now!

And while it's true that the Mets have a depleted team right now, the Yanks have also been missing several players - like Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon - due to whatever flu it is going around the Yankee clubhouse. Yet that hasn't held the Yankees down this week.

Tim Redding reminded me of Pedro Martinez last night in this way - once he got to 100 pitches, he completely fell apart. Four pitches - and four hits - in a row? It reminded me of when Redding pitched for the Yanks against the Red Sox!

So much for Citi Field not being a home-run haven. Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada didn't seem to have much of a problem getting the ball out of the park.

And yes, I am getting the broom ready for the sweep, even if Chien-Ming Wang is pitching. Sorry, Squawker Jon!

Maybe, if we're lucky, the cat who showed up at Citi Field on Opening Night (see picture above) will make another guest appearance tonight, when we're in the ballpark. It would make this weekend purr-fect.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

The dog days of June wear down the Squawkers

I told Squawker Jon last night I was bone-tired and running on empty. I said I needed a break from this relentless pace of Squawking. "I've written every day this season," I told him. "Give me a day off now."

But Jon insisted upon putting me into the Squawker lineup. "Better keep on writing," he demanded. "We have fans expecting to read you."

There were rumors that we spoke sharply to each other and needed a conference call with Yankee higherups to work things out. At any rate, I got a little more than 24 hours away from Squawking, before having to pinch-Squawk tonight. I feel like A-Rod or something!

Here's the real story. One of my brothers was in New York State this weekend for a basenji convention, of all things. Basenjis are dogs that don't bark - they kind of howl and yodel!

So Squawker Jon came along with me to keep me company on the drive upstate. We're in Syracuse now with a whole mess of hounds. It's kind of how what it would be like to put Met fans, Yankee fans, and Red Sox fans in the same room. They might get along, but there could also be some howling!

Anyhow, I missed seeing most of last night's game, and also missed much of tonight's game. I think A-Rod's time off was long overdue, and I'm glad to see good pitching performances out of Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett. Just wish the Yankee bats would wake up a little more.

Tomorrow afternoon, we're going to Cooperstown on the way back to the city to see the Hall of Fame Classic. It's the Old Timers' Day featuring five Hall of Famers and 20 other retired big leaguers. We're looking forward to seeing the 90-year-old Bob Feller start the game!

What do you think of the state of the Yankees? Leave us a comment!

A.J. Burnett's pitching and the Yankees' sleeping bats make me sick

Well, that game kind of stunk. So much for my fearless prediction that A.J. Burnett would have a very slight edge over Josh Beckett in a pitchers' duel. Ha! The only edge in that game was when Yankee fans wanted to slit their wrists while watching the nightmare of Burnett's outing.

Oh, and one of my brothers wondered if the Sox could go 18-0 against the Yanks this year. Then again, look what happened to the Patriots after they went 18-0!

So much for Burnett being a Sox killer. The only thing A.J. had good aim for last a night was the cooler he kicked while going into the dugout. That was a strike right down the middle. Let's hope the often-injured Burnett didn't break a toe!

Pie-thrower Burnett was the one with pie on his face after this debacle. He said this after the game:

"It's embarrassing, it's very disappointing," Burnett said. "But obviously I'm not going to kill myself. I'm not going to go and try to figure out what went wrong or this and that. I'm going to get back out there. The confidence is there."

I appreciate that he was mortified over the way he pitched. But I'm troubled by A.J. saying he wasn't going to try to figure out where he went wrong.

Here are his numbers against Boston so far this year: 12.91 ERA, with 13 hits and 8 walks in 7.2 innings. Last night Burnett gave up five walks and five hits in 2 2/3 innings, and the slumping David Ortiz hit a monster shot off him. Heck, a double by Nick Bleeping Green knocked him out of the game!

I'm not saying Burnett needs to be a shoe-gazer, but it wouldn't hurt him to figure out where the heck he went wrong.

As for Ortiz, I did call that homer in my pre-game predictions. What's funny is that Squawker reader Paul from Boston disagreed with that prediction of mine!

While Burnett was a thousand shades of awful, I can't let the Yankee batters off the hook. I figured Beckett would pitch well, but I didn't think he would flirt with a no-hitter. I was so peeved over that turn of events that I went on Facebook last night and wrote this in my status update at 8:34 p.m. "Lisa Swan is going to jinx Josh Beckett's potential no-hitter. There, I said it. Jinx, jinx, jinx!"

Literally within a minute, Robinson Cano had broken up the no-hitter, albeit with a little help from Dustin Pedroia. Lisa the Jinx strikes again!

The Yankee bats managed two hits all night. Two. It didn't matter who was pitching - Beckett, Manny Delcarmen, the man in the moon - the Yankees weren't going to do anything, and they got shut out for the first time this season. What a disaster.

One other note - did you hear how Michael Kay called Beckett "Burnett" not once but twice, including after Beckett struck out the side in the fourth? Good grief.

(Puking pumpkin pic courtesy of extremepumpkins.com)

What did you think of Tuesday's game? Leave us a comment!

From Soup to Putz

Squawker Lisa, I see you've named the new Yankee pitchers Alphabet Soup because they are CC and A.J. But the Mets also introduced a new pitcher Thursday, J.J. Putz., so you can't have Alphabet Soup all to yourself. Instead, how about these soup-related nicknames for your new pitchers: Chicken Soup for the always-ailing Burnett and Souper-Size for Sabathia.

And here's a nickname for Yankee fans after they shell out for tickets to the new Yankee Stadium: Soup Kitchen.

I also had some suggestions for numbers for the new Yanks, if only these numbers were not retired. Sabathia could have worn 3 for the number of years after which he can opt out of his contract. Also, his body type is similar to the Babe's. Burnett could have worn 10, for the number of times he has been on the disabled list.

And Lisa, I'm just fine with calling Francisco Rodriguez K-Rod instead of F-Rod. After all, Dwight Gooden wasn't called Dr. G. (That would have sounded like a weatherman or a dermatologist in subway ads.)

As for Sabathia saying he got chills when telling his real estate agent that he is a Yankee, I suspect it was really the other way around!

Only the Yankees could take the two biggest signings of the free-agent season in terms of contract size and combine them into one news conference. What, they didn't want to spring for a second carving board? Even the Mets had two separate welcomes for K-Rod and Putz.

If Putz sticks with number 40 (there was a report that he might try to get 20 from Howard Johnson), that number could have a couple of meanings. 40 is the number of saves Putz had in 2007, the year he made the All-Star team. And 40 is the number of games the Mariners were under .500 in 2008, when they went 61-101, and why I believe him when he says he's happy to be a setup man for a contender.

Finally, Lisa, thanks for ruining my night by letting me know that mlb.com's "Moment of the Year" was Derek Jeter's speech after the last game played at the old Yankee Stadium.

Look, even I think it was a special day, but did the 2008 Yankees really need to take a victory lap around the Stadium? After all, it was the last game only because they were missing the playoffs after 13 straight appearances.

I suppose we shouldn't take this list all that seriously, considering that second place went to something that happened in the Home Run Derby. But as long as the voters don't seem interested in things that actually happened during a game, goodness gracious, where's Roger Clemens testifying before Congress?

I have a new nickname for the Yankees' free agent pitchers

A few thoughts while we wait for this afternoon's big press conference (I'm assuming this is a carving board sort of day at the Stadium, with prime rib. Yum!) Alas, I have other plans this afternoon, and will have to record the presser and watch it later. Bummer.

But I do have a suggestion. Nicknames are vitally important in baseball, and I think the Bombers' new Yankee pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett need one. My suggestion? Alphabet Soup for CC and A.J. Hey, it's better than calling them, say, 243 (for the combined millions the Bombers will be paying them) or 570 (their estimated combined weight.)

Readers, if you have a better suggestion for nicknames, please post a comment here, or email us at subwaysquawkers@gmail.com.

* Squawker Jon, I see that your Mets did their own wingding for "Krancisco" Rodriguez, as I like to call him. (He shouldn't be K-Rod if his name begins with an F!) And he will be taking the unusual uniform number of 75. Is that for how many wins the Mets will get next year?

* Derek Jeter was on XM Radio the other day, and he had this to say about Red Sox MVP Dustin Pedroia (oh, how I hate to put those words together!) Peter Abraham's blog has the words from the transcript. Here's a snippet:

“He’s a great player. More importantly, he’s a good person. He was fun to be around (at the All-Star Game). The thing about Dustin that I like is every game he’s playing all out. I mean, he’s a player that you really enjoy to watch play. I mean, I really don’t enjoy it because we see enough of him but you really appreciate the way he goes about playing the game everyday.

While I am positively cringing hearing Jeter say all that praise, I am also jealous that the Yanks really don't have a kid like Pedroia right now. I guess Joba counts as far as pitching excitement (and getting other opposing fans' skin the way Pedroia does), but there is not hot young position player on the Yanks who is an equivalent to Dustin. And I wish they did.

Once upon a time, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera appeared to be up-and-coming stars. But Melky's star faded so much he first was demoted to the minors, and then was supposed to be traded for Mike Cameron. However, it looks like that trade is dead. It would be nice if in 2009, Cano and Cabrera could be the exciting young players they projected to be. Dare to dream!

* One other note - Subway Squawkers is now part of Facebook's blog network. If you belong to Facebook, click here to join the fun with us.

What do you think about the state of the Yankees? Leave us a comment!

I'd rather see Carol Burnett than A.J. Burnett as a Yankee

Just wanted to voice my extreme displeasure over the Yankees reportedly signing A.J. Burnett. Let's review - the Yanks finally got under from giving the, shall we say, oft-injured Carl Pavano four years and $40 million. So they turn around and give the oft-injured Burnett a five-year, $82.5 million contract. How does this make a lick of sense?

It's just that Burnett is an injury risk; he's been on the DL nine times since 2000. It's that he's not very good in the first place. His career record is 87-76, with a 3.81 ERA. He's only won over 12 games a year once, which was this season. That's worth $16 million a year? Good grief.

Meanwhile, Brian Cashman is flying to Houston and telling Andy Pettitte to take it or leave it when it comes to the Yanks' $10 million offer. At this point, I can't blame Pettitte if he's peeved over this. He shouldn't be getting $16 million next year, but he's certainly worth more than $10 million.

Earlier this week, I thought the Yanks' Pettitte offer was reasonable. Not any more. If the Yanks have money for Burnett, they should have money to keep Pettitte, one of their dynasty's icons.

And give me Andy's personality over A.J.'s any day. Andy took it upon himself to be the man. A.J.? Not so much. Look what John Gibbons, his former manager, said about him:

"I like the guy," said Gibbons, currently the Royals' bench coach. "He is a high-strung guy with a ton of talent. I know things happened in the past, the sarcastic tip of the hat to the fans, but I enjoyed having him on my team."

Let's review. As the Post notes, he's had two good seasons - both in his walk years. He's got a bit of an attitude. And he's pitched 200 innings exactly three times in a decade. And this guy is a good fit for the Yankees why, exactly?

I've got to stop my rant now, before I blow a gasket. Suffice it to say that I'd rather see Carol Burnett as a Yankee. At least she'd keep the fans in stitches. A.J. Burnett, on the other hand, will be the one getting the stitches!

What do you think of the A.J. Burnett signing? Leave us a comment!